Abscess. A localized collection
of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often
accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria.
The brain, lung, or kidney (for instance) could be involved. See
boil.

Addison's disease. A disease
characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a
bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol
from the adrenal gland. Dr. Thomas Addison (1793?1860), born
near Newcastle, England, described the disease in 1855. Synonyms:
Morbus addisonii, bronzed skin disease.

Ague. Malarial or intermittent
fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating
at regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission
whose length determines the epithets: quotidian, tertian, quartan,
and quintan ague (defined in the text). Popularly, the disease was
known as "fever and ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names
expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent??such as, "swamp fever"
(in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and "Chagres fever."Ague?cake. A form of enlargement
of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system.

Anasarca. Generalized massive
dropsy. See dropsy.

Aphthae. See thrush.

Aphthous stomatitis. See canker.

Ascites. See dropsy.

Asthenia. See debility.

B

Bilious fever. A term loosely
applied to certain enteric (intestinal) and malarial fevers. See
typhus.

Biliousness. A complex of symptoms
comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and constipation formerly
attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the liver.

Boil. An abscess of skin or
painful, circumscribed inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle, having
a dead, pus?forming inner core, usually caused by a staphylococcal infection.
Synonym: furuncle.

Brain fever. See meningitis,
typhus.

Bronchial asthma. A paroxysmal,
often allergic disorder of breathing, characterized by spasm of the
bronchial tubes of the lungs, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing air
outward often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of tightness in the
chest. In the nineteenth century the direct causes were thought to
be dust, vegetable irritants, chemical vapors, animal emanations, climatic
influences, and bronchial inflammation??all of which were reasonable guesses.
The indirect causes were thought to be transmissions by the nervous system
or by the blood from gout, syphilis, skin disease, renal disease, orheredity. Only the latter cause was
a reasonable assumption.

C

Camp fever. See typhus.

Cancer. A malignant and invasive
growth or tumor (especially tissue that covers a surface or lines a cavity),
tending to recur after excision and to spread to other sites. In
the nineteenth century, physicians noted that cancerous tumors tended
to ulcerate, grew constantly, and progressed to a fatal end and that there
was scarcely a tissue they would not invade. Synonyms: malignant
growth,carcinoma.

Cancrum otis. A severe, destructive,
eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip, rapidly proceeding to sloughing.
In the last century it was seen in delicate, ill?fed, ill-tended children
between the ages of two and five. The disease was the result of poor
hygiene acting upon a debilitated system. It commonly followed one
of the eruptive fevers and was often fatal. The destructive disease
could, in a few days, lead to gangrene of the lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate,
tongue, and even half the face; teeth would fall from their sockets, and
a horribly fetid saliva flowed from the parts. Synonyms: canker,
water canker, noma, gangrenous stomatitis, gangrenous ulceration of the
mouth.

Canker. An ulcerous sore of
the mouth and lips, not considered fatal today. Synonym: aphthous
stomatitis. See cancrum otis.

Carcinoma. See cancer.

Catarrh. Inflammation of a mucous
membrane, especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a
free discharge. It is characterized by cough, thirst, lassitude,
fever, watery eyes, and increased secretions of mucus from the air passages.
Bronchial catarrh was bronchitis; suffocative catarrh was croup; urethral
catarrh was gleet; vaginal catarrh was leukorrhea; epidemic catarrh
was the same as influenza. Synonyms: cold, coryza.

Childbirth. A cause given for
many female deaths of the century. Almost all babies were born in
homes and usually were delivered by a family member or a midwife; thus
infection and lack of medical skill were often the actual causes
of death.

Cholera. An acute, infectious
disease, endemic in India and China andnow
occasionally epidemic elsewhere characterized by profusediarrhea,
vomiting, and cramps. It is caused by a potent toxindischarged
by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which acts on the smallintestine
to cause secretion of large amounts of fluid. The painless,watery diarrhea and the passing of rice water
stool are characteristic.
Great body salt depletion occurs. Cholera is spreadby
feces contaminated water and food. Major epidemics struck theUnited States in the years 1832, 1849, and 1866.
In the 1830s thecauses were generally
thought to be intemperance in the use of ardentspirits
or drinking bad water; uncleanness, poor living or crowdedand
ill ventilated dwellings; and too much fatigue. By 1850 cholerawas thought to be caused by putrid animal poison
and miasma orpestilential vapor rising
from swamps and marshes or that it enteredthe body through the lungs or was transmitted
through the medium ofclothing.
It was still believed that it attacked the poor, thedissolute,
the diseased, and the fearful while the healthy,well-clad,
well-fed, and fearless man escaped the ravages of cholera.

Cholera infantum. A common,
noncontagious diarrhea of young children,
occurring in summer or autumn. In the nineteenth century it wasconsidered indigenous to the United States;
was prevalent during thehot weather
in most of the towns of the middle and southern states, aswell
as many western areas; and was characterized by gastric pain,vomiting,
purgation, fever, and prostration. It was common among thepoor and in hand?fed babies. Death frequently
occurred in three tofive days.
Synonyms: summer complaint, weaning brash, water gripes,choleric
fever of children, cholera morbus.

Chorea. Any of several diseases
of the nervous system, characterized byjerky
movements that appear to be well coordinated but are performedinvoluntarily,
chiefly of the face and extremities. Synonym: SaintVitus' dance.

Chronic. Persisting over a long
period of time as opposed to acute orsudden.
This word was often the only one entered under "cause ofdeath"
in the mortality schedules. The actual disease meant by the
term is open to speculation.

Colic. Paroxysmal pain in the
abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic isbenign
paroxysmal abdominal pain during the first three months oflife.
Colic rarely caused death; but in the last century a studyreported
that in cases of death, intussusception (the prolapse of onepart
of the intestine into the lumen of an immediately adjoining part)occasionally occurred. Renal colic can
occur from disease in thekidney, gallstone
colic from a stone in the bile duct.

Congestion. An excessive or
abnormal accumulation of blood or other
fluid in a body part or blood vessel. In congestive fever (see text),
the internal organs become gorged with blood.

Consumption. A wasting away
of the body; formerly applied especially to
pulmonary tuberculosis. The disorder is now known to be an infectious
disease caused by the bacterial species Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Synonyms: marasmus (in the mid?nineteenth
century), phthisis.

Convulsions. Severe contortion
of the body caused by violent,involuntary
muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and head.
See epilepsy.

Coryza. See catarrh.

Croup. Any obstructive condition
of the larynx (voice box) or trachea
(windpipe), characterized by a hoarse, barking cough and difficult
breathing occurring chiefly in infants and children. The obstructioncould be caused by allergy, a foreign body,
infection, or new growth(tumor).
In the early nineteenth century it was called cynanchetrachealis.
The crouping noise was similar to the sound emitted by achicken
affected with the pip, which in some parts of Scotland wascalled
roup; hence, probably, the term croup. Synonyms: roup, hives,choak, stuffing, rising of the lights.

D

Debility. Abnormal bodily weakness
or feebleness; decay of strength.
This was a term descriptive of a patient's condition and of no help inmaking a diagnosis. Synonym: asthenia.

Diphtheria. An acute infectious
disease caused by toxigenic strains of
the bacillus Corynebacterium diphtheriae, acquired by contact withan infected person or a carrier of the disease.
It was usuallyconfined to the upper
respiratory tract (throat) and characterized bythe
formation of a tough membrane (false membrane) attached firmly tothe underlying tissue that would bleed if forcibly
removed. In thenineteenth century
the disease was occasionally confused with scarlet
fever and croup.Dropsy. A contraction for hydropsy.
Edema, the presence of abnormallylarge
amounts of fluid in intercellular tissue spaces or bodycavities.
Abdominal dropsy is ascites; brain dropsy is hydrocephalus;and
chest dropsy is hydrothorax. Cardiac dropsy is a symptom of
disease of the heart and arises from obstruction to the current of
blood through the heart, lungs, or liver. Anasarca is general fluidaccumulation throughout the body.

Dysentery. A term given to a
number of disorders marked by inflammationof
the intestines (especially of the colon) and attended by pain inthe abdomen, by tenesmus (straining to defecate
without the ability todo so), and by
frequent stools containing blood and mucus. Thecausative
agent may be chemical irritants, bacteria, protozoa, orparasitic
worms. There are two specific varieties: (1) amebicdysentery caused by the protozoan Entamoeba
histolytica; (2) bacillary
dysentery caused by bacteria of the genus Shigella. Dysentery was
oneof the most severe scourges of armies
in the nineteenth century. Theseveral
forms of dysentery and diarrhea accounted for more thanone-fourth
of all the cases of disease reported during the first twoyears
of the Civil War. Synonyms: flux, bloody flux, contagiouspyrexia (fever), frequent griping stools.

E

Eclampsia. A form of toxemia
(toxins or poisons in the blood)accompanying
pregnancy, characterized by albuminuria (protein in theurine),
by hypertension (high blood pressure), and by convulsions. Inthe last century, the term was used for any
form of convulsion.

Edema. See dropsy.

Effluvia. Exhalations or emanations,
applied especially to those ofnoxious
character. In the mid?nineteenth century, they were called"vapours" and distinguished into the contagious
effluvia, such asrubeolar (measles);
marsh effluvia, such as miasmata; and thosearising
from animals or vegetables, such as odors.

Emphysema, pulmonary. A chronic,
irreversible disease of the lungs,characterized
by abnormal enlargement of air spaces in the lungs and accompanied
by destruction of the tissue lining the walls of the airsacs.
By 1900 the condition was recognized as a chronic disease of
the lungs associated with marked dyspnea (shortness of breath),
hacking cough, defective aeration (oxygenation) of the blood, cyanosis
(blue color of facial skin), and a full and rounded or "barrel?shaped"
chest. This disease is now most commonly associated with tobaccosmoking.Enteric fever. See typhoid
fever.

Epilepsy. A disorder of the
nervous system, characterized either bymild,
episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petittnal) or bysevere
convulsions with loss of consciousness (grand mal). Synonyms:falling sickness, fits.

Erysipelas. An acute, febrile,
infectious disease, caused by a specific
group ~4 streptococcus bacterium and characterized by a diffusely
spreading, deep-red inflammation of the skin or mucous membranes
causing a rash with a well?defined margin. Synonyms: Rose,
SaintAnthony's Fire (from its burning
heat or, perhaps, because SaintAnthony
was supposed to cure it miraculously).

F

Flux. See dysentery.

Furuncle. See boil.

G

Gangrene. Death and decay of
tissue in a part of the body, usually alimb,
due to injury, disease, or failure of blood supply. Synonym:
mortification.

Gleet. See catarrh.

Gravel. A disease characterized
by multiple small calculi (stones orconcretions
of mineral salts) which are formed in the kidneys, passedalong
the ureters to the bladder, and expelled with the urine.
Synonym: kidney stone.

Hives. A skin eruption of wheals
(smooth, slightly elevated areas onthe
skin) which is redder or paler than the surrounding skin. Often
attended by severe itching, it usually changes its size or shape or
disappears within a few hours. It is the dermal evidence of allergy.
See the discussion under croup; also called cynanche trachealis.
In the mid-nineteenth century,
hives was a commonly given cause of death
of children three years and under. Because true hives does not kill,croup was probably the actual cause of death
in those children.

Hospital fever. See typhus.

Hydrocephalus. See dropsy.

Hydrothorax. See dropsy.

I

Icterus. See jaundice.

Inanition. Exhaustion from lack
of nourishment; starvation. Acondition
characterized by marked weakness, extreme weight loss, and a decrease in
metabolism resulting from severe and prolonged (usuallyweeks
to months) insufficiency of food.

Infection. The affection or
contamination of a person, organ, or woundwith
invading, multiplying, disease-producing germs; such as bacteria,rickettsiae, viruses, molds, yeasts, and protozoa.
In the early partof the last century,
infections were thought to be the propagation ofdisease
by effluvia (see above) from patients crowded together.
"Miasms" were believed to be substances which could not be seen in anyform; emanations not apparent to the senses.
Such miasms were understood to
act by infection.

Inflammation. Redness, swelling,
pain, tenderness, heat, and disturbedfunction
of an area of the body, especially as a reaction of tissue toinjurious
agents. This mechanism serves as a localized and protectiveresponse to injury. The word ending -itis
denotes inflammation on thepart indicated
by the word stem to which it is attached; that is,appendicitis,
pleuritis, etc. Microscopically, it involves a complexseries
of events, including enlargement of the sizes of blood vessels;
discharge of fluids, including plasma proteins; and migration ofleukocytes (white blood cells) into the inflammatory
focus. In thelast century, cause
of death often was listed as inflammation of a
body organ; such as, brain or lung, but this was purely a descriptiveterm and is not helpful in identifying the actual
underlying disease.Intussusception. The slipping
of one part within another, as theprolapse
of one part of the intestine into the lumen of an immediatelyadjoining
part. This leads to obstruction and often must be relievedby surgery. Synonym: introsusception.

J

Jail fever. See typhus.

Jaundice. Yellow discoloration
of the skin, whites of the eyes, andmucous
membranes, due to an increase of bile pigments in theblood;
often symptomatic of certain diseases, such as hepatitis,obstruction
of the bile duct, or cancer of the liver. Synonym:icterus.

K

Kidney stone. See gravel.

Kings evil. A popular name for
scrofula. The name originated in thetime
of Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the disease couldbe cured by the touch of the king of England.

L

Lockjaw. Tetanus, a disease
in which the jaws become firmly lockedtogether.
Synonyms: trismus, tetanus.

M

Malignant fever. See typhus.

Marasmus. Malnutrition occurring
in infants and young children, causedby
an insufficient intake of calories or protein and characterized bythinness, dry skin, poor muscle development,
and irritability. In themid-nineteenth
century, specific causes were associated with specificages:
In infants under twelve months old, the causes were believed tobe unsuitable food, chronic vomiting, chronic
diarrhea, and inheritedsyphilis.
Between one and three years, marasmus was associated withrickets
or cancer. After the age of three years, caseous (cheeselike)enlargement of the mesenteric glands (located
in the peritoneal foldattaching the small intestine to the body
wall) became a given causeof wasting.
(See tabes mesenterica.) After the sixth year, chronicpulmonary
tuberculosis appeared to be the major cause. Marasmus isnow
considered to be related to kwashiorkor, a severe proteindeficiency.

Meningitis. Inflammation of
the meninges (the three membranes coveringthe
brain and spinal cord), especially of the pia mater andarachnoid;
caused by a bacterial or viral infection and characterizedhigh
fever, severe headache, and stiff neck or back muscles. Synonym:brain fever.

Morbus. Latin word for disease.
In the last century, when applied to a
particular disease, morbus was associated with some qualifyingadjective
or noun, indicating the nature or seat of such disease.Examples:
morbus cordis, heart disease; morbus caducus, epilepsy orfailing
sickness.

N

Neuralgia. Sharp and paroxysmal
pain along the course of a sensorynerve.
There are many causes: anemia, diabetes, gout, malaria,syphilis.
Many varieties of neuralgia are distinguished according tothe
part affected??such as face, arm, leg.

P

Paristhmitis. See quinsy.

Petechial fever. See typhus.

Phthisis. See consumption.

Pleurisy. Inflammation of the
pleura, the membranous sac lining thechest
cavity, with or without fluid collected in the pleural cavity.Symptoms
are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected side(a
stitch).

Pneumonia. Inflammation of the
lungs with congestion orconsolidation???caused
by viruses, bacteria, or physical and chemicalagents.

Pus. A yellow?white, more or
less viscid substance found in abscessesand
sores, consisting of a liquid plasma in which white blood cellsare formed and suspended by the process of inflammation.

Putrid fever. See typhus.

Putrid sore throat. Ulceration
of an acute form, attacking the tonsilsand
rapidly running into sloughing of the fauces (the cavity at theback of the mouth, leading to the pharynx).

Pyrexia. See dysentery.

Q

Quinsy. A fever, or a febrile
condition. An acute inflammation of thetonsils,
often leading to an abscess; peritonsillar abscess.
Synonyms: suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris,paristhmitis,
sore throat.

S

Scarlatina.
Scarlet fever. A contagious febrile disease, caused byinfection
with the bacteria group. A beta-hemolytic streptococci(which
elaborate a toxin with an affinity for red blood cells) andcharacterized
by a scarlet eruption, tonsillitis, and pharyngitis.

Scrofula. Primary tuberculosis
of the lymphatic glands, especiallythose
in the neck. A disease of children and young adults, itrepresents
a direct extension of tuberculosis into the skin fromunderlying
lymph nodes. It evolves into cold abscesses, multiple skinulcers, and draining sinus tracts. Synonym:
king's evil.

Septic. Infected, a condition
of local or generalized invasion of the
body by disease?causing microorganisms (germs) or their toxins.

Ship fever. See typhus.

Spotted fever. See typhus.

Suffocation. The stoppage of
respiration. In the nineteenth century,
suffocation was reported as being accidental or homicidal. Theaccidents could be by the impaction of pieces
of food or otherobstacles in the pharynx
or by the entry of foreign bodies into thelarynx
(as a seed, coin, or food). Suffocation of newborn children bysmothering under bedclothes may have happened
from carelessness aswell as from intent.
However, the deaths also could have been due toSIDS
(sudden infant death syndrome), wherein the sudden and unexpecteddeath of an apparently healthy infant, while
asleep, typically occursbetween the
ages of three weeks and five months and is not explainedby
careful postmortem studies. Synonyms of SIDS: crib death and
cotdeath. It was felt that victims
of homicidal suffocation were chieflyinfants
or feeble and infirm persons.

Summer complaint. See cholera
infantum.

Suppuration. The production
of pus.

T

Tabes mesenterica. Tuberculosis
of the mesenteric glands in children,
resulting in digestive derangement and wasting of the body.

Teething. The entire process
which results in the eruption of theteeth.
Nineteenth-century medical reports stated that infants weremore
prone to disease at the time of teething. Symptoms were
restlessness, fretfulness, convulsions, diarrhea, and painful andswollen gums. The latter could be relieved
by lancing over theprotruding tooth.
Often teething was reported as a cause of death ininfants.
Perhaps they became susceptible to infections, especially if
lancing was performed without antisepsis. Another explanation ofteething as a cause of death is that infants
were often weaned at thetime of teething;
perhaps they then died from drinking contaminatedmilk,
leading to an infection, or from malnutrition if watered-downmilk
was given.

Tetanus. An infectious, often?fatal
disease caused by a specificbacterium,
Clostridium tetani, that enters the body through wounds;characterized
by respiratory paralysis and tonic spasms and rigidityof
the voluntary muscles, especially those of the neck and lower jaw.
Synonyms: trismus, lockjaw.

Thrush. A disease characterized
by whitish spots and ulcers on themembranes
of the mouth, tongue, and fauces caused by a parasiticfungus,
Candida albicans. Thrush usually affects sick, weak infants
and elderly individuals in poor health. Now it is a commoncomplication from excessive use of broad-spectrum
antibiotics orcortisone treatment.
Synonyms: aphthae, sore mouth, aphthous
stomatitis.

Trismus nascentium or neonatorum.
A form of tetanus seen only ininfants,
almost invariably in the first five days of life, probably
due to infection of the umbilical stump.

Virus. An ultramicroscopic,
metabolically inert infectious agent thatreplicates
only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria,plants,
and animals. In the early 1800s virus meant poison, venom, orcontagion.

Y

Yellow fever. An acute, often?fatal,
infectious febrile disease of warm
climates; caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, especially
Aledes aegypti, and characterized by liver damage and jaundice, fever,
and protein in the urine. In 1900 Walter Reed and others in Panamafound that mosquitoes transmit the disease.
Clinicians in. the latenineteenth century
recognized "specific yellow fever" as beingdifferent
from "malarious yellow fever." The latter supposedly was aform of malaria with liver involvement but without
urine involvement.

From the article "Disease and
Death in the Nineteenth Century: AGenealogical
Perspective", by James Byars Carter, M.D. Exerpted from acomplete
article on the subject from The National Genealogical SocietyQuarterly,
Vol. 76, (Dec 1988) pp 289?301.

GLOSSARY
OF DISEASES

Outdated Term

Current Term

AMERICAN PLAGUE

yellow fever

APOPLEXY

paralysis due to stroke

BAD BLOOD

Syphilis

BILIOUSNESS

liver disease symptoms. Bilious
is defined as having an undue amount of bile. Biliousfever
is defined as a fever _supposed_ to be caused by a liverdisorder.
(It probably also has something to do with gallbladderdisease.)

BLOOD POISONING

Septicemia

BRAIN FEVER

today known as meningitis

BRIGHT'S DISEASE

Glomerulonephritis (kidney
inflammation)

CATALEPSY

seizures/trances

CHLOROSIS

iron deficiency anemia

CHOLERA

an acute infectious disease
characterized by severe diarrhea,vomiting,
muscle cramps and prostration. The severe dehydrationleads
to shock and death.

CONGESTIVE FEVER

malaria

CONSUMPTION

Tuberculosis, pulmonary

CRETINISM

Hypothyroidism, congential

DROPSY

Congestive heart failure.
Taken from an old "Cyclopedic Medical
Dictionary" : 'dropsy; from Hydrops, a condition rather than a
disease. morbidaccumulation
of water in the tissues and cavities.'
It goes onto mention
dropsy of the amnion, belly, brain, heart, chest,
peritoneum, tubes (e.g. fallopian) and uterus.
It could becongestive heart failure
or just a general accumulation of fluidin
unwanted places. (Not the bladder after too much beer though!

#1. A condition
rather than a disease. Morbid accumulation ofwater
in the tissues and cavities. (chest=thorax)

#2. a fever with
vomiting of bile. (a symptom due to disordered condition
of the liver.)

FATTY LIVER

Cirrhosis

GLANDULAR FEVER

Mononucleosis

GRIPPE

an old term for influenza

JAIL FEVER

Typhus

LOCK JAW

Tetanus

LUNG FEVER

pneumonia

LUNG SICKNESS

Tuberculosis

MILK SICK

poisoning resulting from the
drinking of milk produced by acow who
had eaten a plant known as white snake root

MORMAL

gangreen

PLAGUE/BLACK DEATH

Bubonic Plague

PODAGRA

Gout

POTTS DISEASE

Tuberculosis of the spinal
vertebrae

QUINSY

another name for tonsillitis;
acute inflammationof the tonsil <&
surrounding tissue>, usually forming an abscess.

From the article "Disease and
Death in the Nineteenth Century: AGenealogical
Perspective", by James Byars Carter, M.D. Exerpted from acomplete
article on the subject from The National Genealogical SocietyQuarterly,
Vol. 76, (Dec 1988) pp 289?301.